Roberto De Zerbi on Tottenham's Transfer Strategy and Future
Roberto De Zerbi has nailed one certainty to the door at Tottenham – and left another swinging in the breeze.
Lucas Bergvall, he insists, is “100 per cent” staying. Pape Matar Sarr? That one is wide open.
Bergvall stays, Sarr waits
Bergvall told Spurs earlier in the summer, before heading to the World Cup, that he wanted a new challenge and more responsibility as a number eight. Newcastle and Nottingham Forest tested that resolve with bids for the 20-year-old. Tottenham turned them away and De Zerbi backed the youngster with serious minutes and starts in pre-season.
The Italian is convinced that has shifted the mood.
“Lucas Bergvall, 100 per cent [he is staying],” De Zerbi said. “We spoke a lot in pre-season. He’s a top player, a top potential player. I like that he stays but I think now he wants to stay and we have no problem.”
The picture is very different with Sarr. The 23-year-old reported back late after remaining in Senegal until the first week of August and now finds himself staring at a midfield suddenly reshaped by money and ambition.
The £185million double signing of Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes has changed the landscape.
“For Pape, he started pre-season late because he stayed in Senegal until the first week in August, I think,” De Zerbi said. “He’s a good player. I don’t know if he stays or not, we have to analyse the situation, but he is another very very important player.”
Spending with a purpose
Tottenham’s owners, the Lewis family, promised “actions not words” after last season’s brush with relegation. The numbers say they meant it.
With Manchester City pair Savinho and Omar Marmoush set to arrive, Spurs’ summer outlay could hit £377million. Sales and loans are projected to bring in around £213m, backed by the financial muscle of their stadium revenue.
De Zerbi, who arrived in March, says the hierarchy have delivered exactly what he was told to expect.
“I am very happy and I think I can't speak about the other coaches [in the past],” he said. “I just can say, in my experience, they kept their word, they kept what they said before I came in March… very happy.
“But what we are doing is not for the coach. It’s for the club, for the fans, for the history of the club, for the pride of the club, and for the level of the club. I think this moment is crucial for this club, because after two seasons like we had, we have to change the mood, completely change it, give it a boost.”
The plan is clear: take the pain now, then settle. Build a squad that does not need ripping up every window.
“Then, I think when we have finished in this transfer market, for a long time we don't need many things and we can work all together in the right condition, in the right direction, to build step by step something special, or to go to compete for the top of the table.
“Not maybe now, or maybe yes, I don't know, but we have the squad to play in every stadium in the right way. Face to face, we know we have to improve. We have to become a team, but I think we also have all the qualities to do that.”
Big potential, bigger expectations
De Zerbi does not hide from the scale of what has been assembled. He just wants to see it on grass before he starts shouting about it.
“Yes. Big potential. At the end of the transfer market, I will be more accurate in my opinion,” he said. “I have to keep the balance because sometimes the transfer market – with Tonali and JP Van Henke – we bring in a lot.”
Rival fans and pundits have been vocal about Spurs’ spending. De Zerbi is unmoved and, if anything, energised.
“I don’t know, you have to explain to me. For me, no pressure and it’s not a problem. I don’t know why the people don’t love if Tottenham becomes better. It’s one motivation more for us. Last season, all other clubs wanted to kill us. This is another part of football.”
He uses it. Regularly.
“[I remind the players of it] every week. Every week we have to remember last season. The last friendly game against Hoffenheim, the time before was against Everton. You can imagine the difference between that game and the game against Everton when we stayed up with all that pressure.”
On paper, the squad is close to what he imagined. On the pitch, he is refusing to get carried away.
“On paper it’s very close. On the pitch we have to see and we have to work. I am experienced enough not to say too much. I’m very happy with the squad. We have to complete the squad but at the moment very happy. The answer I receive from the pitch has to be like my dreams and my thoughts with the board.
“Maybe we have to see on the pitch. To be honest, everyone, we are very excited but in the end the pitch speaks, as we say in Italian. If we start now with big words, I love pressure, it’s not a problem of pressure, but if we are to be honest and correct, we have to wait for the answer from the pitch.”
Then he goes deeper, into what he wants this Tottenham to become.
“Football is a connection. Football is like magic. You can find sometimes the connection between players when every player thinks like the coach or we come together with an idea of football and the players who don’t start in the team are the biggest fans of the players who are playing. We have to create something on the pitch and off the pitch to compete like we want.”
Tonali, the £100m fulcrum
At the heart of that vision stands Sandro Tonali, the £100m signing from Newcastle and now the club’s record transfer.
De Zerbi knew the Italy international before this move. Coaching him has changed the level of that admiration.
“Sandro Tonali is better than I thought before working with him, as a player and as a guy. I know his family, his agents, and I know they all are good people,” he said. “I’m very happy to work with him and I think he’s the right player in the right place. Especially because we want to put him inside of the project. He has the right qualities, the right personality, the right values, to stay in this place.”
The window still has 11 days to run. There will be more noise, more speculation, more players wondering where they fit. De Zerbi has no interest in tiptoeing around egos.
“Nothing [to do]. I love speaking clearly. Today is August 21st, I think every one of those players, they already know the squad. If one of them doesn’t want to accept the competition inside the pitch, inside the dressing room, they can leave,” he said.
“I try to be honest and to decide the better decision I can on the pitch to find the best first XI, but the players have to accept why because if we want to become better, if we want to compete for the top of the table, 11 players are not enough, 15 players are not enough.
“If you analyse the teams – Liverpool two years ago, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus, Milan – the squad there has a big competition inside the dressing room.”
Kids, chances and the last 10 days
The influx of attacking talent raises another question: what happens to Mikey Moore?
The 19-year-old is in line to feature against Brentford in Saturday’s Premier League opener, while a loan to Bundesliga side Köln has been discussed.
“Now is not the right moment to speak about the last 10 days of transfer market. I think it’s not finished yet I said,” De Zerbi replied. “I’m very happy with Mikey Moore, he’s working well, he’s a good player, I don’t know if he goes or not on loan.
“I think he has a big potential for the club and we try to find the best solution for every player we have, also for Luca Williams-Barnett or Malachi [Hardy], two potential big players. Proud that they come from our academy. We have to manage them the best way we can.”
The soul of Tottenham
De Zerbi is not only rebuilding a squad. He is trying to reconnect it with what he believes Tottenham should represent.
He helped organise a gathering of club legends – Glenn Hoddle, Gary Mabbutt, Steve Perryman and others – to speak directly to the current dressing room.
“The players and especially the foreign players, they have to understand the level of this club. Even if we finish two seasons in a row in 17th position, nothing changes and the level of the club can’t change because in the last two seasons it was not great,” he said. “The legends, I think they can explain better than me or better than you what Tottenham has been [before] in the Premier League and in Europe.”
One name was missing. One that meant something personal to the coach.
“I’m sorry I didn’t see Chris Waddle,” he admitted. “Chris Waddle was one of my favourite players when I was a kid and he played in Marseille. In Marseille I said the same like this and Waddle would have been good for Kudus, for Kulusevski, for Xavi Simons, for Mathys [Tel] because he was a great player.”
De Zerbi has his idols, his ideas and now, finally, his squad. The money has been spent. The promises have been kept. The only thing left is the part he keeps coming back to.
The pitch will speak. And when it does, we will find out whether this Tottenham rebuild is noise, or something that really can drag the club back to the top of the table.
